Cardiovascular disease (CVD), consisting of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, carotid artery disease, and peripheral vascular disease (PVD), is the leading cause of death in the United States. About 82.6 million Americans have some form of CVD (39% of the population). Average US life expectancy is 77.9 years. Age-adjusted CVD death rates decreased 32.8% between 1998 and 2008. 1 in 3 of all deaths (2.471 million) are from CVD, and about 1 in 2 known causes of death. In 2009 there are 150,000 CVD deaths in people <65 yrs.
Every 25 seconds someone in the United States has a heart attack (2,718/day), and every 40 seconds someone has a stroke (2,178/day). Of the 2.437 million deaths in the United States in 2009 according to the National Center for Health Statistics 24.6% are from CHD, 5.3% are from stroke, and another 4.7% are from diabetes and kidney disease (most deaths are due to CVD). In 2008 there are 785,000 new CHD events/year, 470,000 recurrent CHD events, and 195,000 silent heart attacks. According to the CDC 15.26 million people (6%) have CHD, 59.26 million (25%) have high blood pressure, and 6.23 million (3%) have had a stroke.
Many of the more serious complications of CVD can be treated or prevented through early detection and identification of at risk individuals. Early treatment and lifestyle adjustments are key to preventing CVD progression and complications. Current methods of identifying populations with elevated risk of CVD are not accurate enough to encourage patients to make difficult lifestyle changes or to support recommendations for treatments that may carry a risk of negative side effects.